Looking For A Good Camera (£250 - £350)

deadman_uk

deadman_uk

deadman_uk

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Hi,

I'm looking for a camera in the £250 - £350 range that can also shoot video in at least 720p. It is needed for promotional work in bars/clubs to show off the party scene. It will also be used during the day for city shots. I am not concerned whether it has one lens or multiple lenses, I just want a good quality camera.

Can anyone suggest some cameras to me? I've been looking at the following so far but I am not knowledgeable in this area.

- Samsung NX10
- Nikon CoolPix P7000
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5
- Panasonic DMC-FZ45
 
Canon S95 or Olympus xz-1, no competition really. For what you've described the XZ-1 will be better in dimly lit environments and is newer (more expensive though at about £320).
 
Narrowed it down to these three:

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5
Canon S95
Olympus XZ-1

Not sure which is best. I shall read some reviews I guess. I am also not sure if I should go with a slightly larger superzoom camera with better image quality like the Panasonic DMC-FZ45.. this is tough!
 
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I'd say LX5, although many people prefer the LX3 that came before it.

If my FX60 is anything to go buy, it'd be a fantastic camera. I'm surprised by every photo I take with it.
 
For cameras featuring hot-shoe, I am guessing you need to buy the external flash separate? It's not usually included in the box?

I have made a PDF file of the 5 cameras I am looking at. I am hoping my research is accurate and the stats of the cameras are correct. I am suggesting my brother to get the HX100v (although this may be out of his budget) and I will likely select either the Olympus XZ-1 or Panasonic LX5.

PDF File

Thanks all for your valuable help!
 
You got the aperture bit wrong, the xz-1 is best in that list.

It is the big draw for the xz-1 for me. They will all go to f/8 and what not, the bigger number there denotes the aperture at the longest focal length, smaller the better. No compact on the market with a zoom will have a constant aperture.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
You got the aperture bit wrong, the xz-1 is best in that list.

It is the big draw for the xz-1 for me. They will all go to f/8 and what not, the bigger number there denotes the aperture at the longest focal length, smaller the better. No compact on the market with a zoom will have a constant aperture.
Click to expand...

I selected the S95 for the best aperture because it went up to 4.9, meaning it can let in the most light. I do know lowest is better but since my brother wants to let in more light for dark scenes, I made the S95 the winner in this section. I will change this to the XZ-1 now.

Also, the S100 is out in a few months, I may wait and get that.... not sure but on paper it looks much better than the S95.
 
deadman_uk said:
I selected the S95 for the best aperture because it went up to 4.9, meaning it can let in the most light. I do know lowest is better but since my brother wants to let in more light for dark scenes, I made the S95 the winner in this section. I will change this to the XZ-1 now.

Also, the S100 is out in a few months, I may wait and get that.... not sure but on paper it looks much better than the S95.
Click to expand...

You have misunderstood a couple of important things.

The 'aperture range' from your pdf is not the total range of apertures each camera is capable of, it's the largest possible aperture (which varies with zoom length, hence why you get a 'range' shown on the lens).

Without checking specs, Iwould imagine all of these cameras go to about f/16.

Finally, large aperture = small f/stop. So the cameras with the smallest possible f-stop value will let in the most light.

So the S95 is worst in both those respects (by a little bit). Higher usable ISO (before noise becomes too great) will probably have a bigger impact.
 
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King4aDay said:
You have misunderstood a couple of important things.

The 'aperture range' from your pdf is not the total range of apertures each camera is capable of, it's the largest possible aperture (which varies with zoom length, hence why you get a 'range' shown on the lens).

Without checking specs, Iwould imagine all of these cameras go to about f/16.

Finally, large aperture = small f/stop. So the cameras with the smallest possible f-stop value will let in the most light.

So the S95 is worst in both those respects (by a little bit). Higher usable ISO (before noise becomes too great) will probably have a bigger impact.
Click to expand...

I thought the bigger the aperture opens (small f/stop numbers), the more light it lets in? Am I just stupid or this complicated? I've eliminated the S95 from my list, it's not good enough. The S100 seems to be much better than the LX5 and XZ-1... am I right?
 
deadman_uk said:
I thought the bigger the aperture opens (small f/stop numbers), the more light it lets in? Am I just stupid or this complicated? I've eliminated the S95 from my list, it's not good enough. The S100 seems to be much better than the LX5 and XZ-1... am I right?
Click to expand...

Yes, hence f/1.8 - 2.5 is better than f/2.0 - 4.9

The xz-1 at the long end of 112mm will be at f/2.5
The s95 in the same focal length is f/4.9

The s100 still don't have a lens better than the xz-1.
 
After great thought, I think compact cameras don't provide enough image quality for me. I am seriously considering the Nixon D5100 DSLR camera with default lens. I plan to learn about this, and then buy a better lens later. I was also considering the Canon 600D which has better video quality than the D5100 but the D5100's image quality (especially at higher ISO's is better) I really wanted a compact camera but image quality is what I am after. Not sure what my brother wants to do (I think he is looking towards the D3100), but I've thrown my £350 budget out of the window!
 
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